You’re already nervous, and slightly edgy from getting 4-hours less sleep than your usual, and downing a double-espresso at the student cafe an hour prior. The professor is intimidating, and slightly condescending as usual.

Free-response question 1: “Crap! I didn’t think that was going to be on here.”

Panic sets in, and it’s all downhill from there.

The story is so common, and the memories so seared into our brains, that almost all of us can still feel the pain and anxiety from taking exams in school, regardless of how long it’s been since graduation day.

Some of the worst nightmares I’ve had have been about never going to class, and then showing up at the final with no clue how to do any of the problems.

It seems like exams are a crap-shoot. How is it possible to study all of this stuff? And whenever I sit down to take one, I feel like I completely blank on how to solve it. What gives?

Well let’s break down some of those questions.

I feel like I know it, but it’s not there for me on test day…

You feel like you’re learning the material, but when you’re on your own with a difficult problem to solve, the material isn’t there for you. You can’t retrieve it.

Here’s the problem though, you never really “learned” it in the first place.

You are sitting there as the recipient of the information, comprehending what is being said, but not necessarily doing anything with it. Remember that the brain will always conserve energy when possible, so unless there is a specific problem for it to solve, unnecessary information is quickly discarded.

That’s why you can walk out of a lecture you think you understood, until someone asks you to describe what you just learned, at which time that feeling of doom and despair sets in, that often accompanies the thought that you really don’t know much of anything…

You’re generally able to recognize similar information, and regurgitate what you have associated with that information in your head, but won’t be able to do much more than that.

This is why listening to lectures and reading through the textbook can lull us into a false sense of security. When we see an example in the context of related information, it’s relatively straightforward to retrieve and apply formulas related to it. But in the absence of the professor’s slides, and the diagrams and explanations in the text, we’re mostly at a loss.

“Don’t confuse recognizing information with being able to recall it.”

“Most of the time students spend studying for exams in the traditional way is wasted because they aren’t practicing what they’ll have to do on the test.”

Active Learning

Active learning, on the other hand, is just as it sounds. In order to truly learn a new piece of information, you need to somehow trick your brain into working on it, activating new neural pathways that make it easy to access when needed.

What he’s saying is: if you put in short bursts of hard work (solving problems from scratch), then you can save yourself hours and hours of wasted time mulling over useless material.

Yes, I know what you’re thinking:

“NO DUH DUDE! Solve hard problems off the top of your head and you’ll do well? Tell me something that doesn’t make me despise you, and everyone else who’s ever done well in Physics.”

Or even for those of you who might have bought in to the idea, I bet you’re thinking:

“Well I’m sure that works for some people, but I just don’t get it. I don’t know where to start and none of it makes sense to me.”

But what about people like this?

Clearly they weren’t “naturally good” at the subject. They didn’t just “get it.” But damn, they sure figured something out.

Imagine what they were thinking during the first semester they failed Physics…

Now imagine what it felt like the second time they failed that same Physics course!

But lo and behold, something changed. And over time they experienced a dramatic improvement in their level of understanding of the material.

Turnaround stories like this one illustrate that it’s possible to make a small tweak to how you do things, and get MASSIVE results over time.

So here’s how I would approach it:

Step (1): Copy it all down

Copy down every step of the example problems the professor or TA solves in class. That’s all you have to do at first. Don’t worry if you don’t understand it just yet.

Step (2): Start solving what you can

Start small. Start with the most basic problems from that lecture, and go through them step-by-step. Break down each piece of the problem until you feel comfortable with drawing out the concepts, figuring out what the variables and equations are, and putting it all together in a solution.

Step (3): Do active recall

Once you feel comfortable that you understand the fundamentals of how to solve a particular type of problem, take advantage of active recall.

Start with a problem and no solution. Try to come up with the solution method and steps off the top of your head, without any supporting materials.

Do the best you can and even guess if you have to. Write down what you can, and then go back and verify whether you were correct with a provided solution.

Repeat this process throughout the semester with a diverse variety of problems and you’ll build your preparation for seeing and responding to tough questions on the exam.

You might even be able to sit down to a problem like this, and not cry.

So throw away the lecture slides, do the work of breaking down problems step-by-step, replace your useless passive review with active recall, and joyfully chuckle to yourself as you pass by your classmates, still toiling away in the study lounge late into Sunday night…

OMG! I came across this website on the off chance and I’m so happy! You totally nailed and described how I feel in my classes. The desperation of trying to remember and understand any terminology or asked a question has me panicked as soon as I step in the classroom. Thank you so much for sharing your post. Using active recall for the first time! 🙂